Do You Remember?
by Prime627
Summary: Ratchet and Wheeljack get into a slight (Wheeljack's word) accident. When they don't remember what happened, or how they got there, or why they can't remember, and when their memories don't exactly match...what will they do when Prime arrives on the scene (no, seriously, what will he do? XD) Due to a prompt. Hope you like it
1. Chapter 1

The Jackhammer was spiralling out of control. Wheeljack couldn't get the starship back in control, so he just leaned back and put his servos behind his helm while his former mate screamed for him to do something. "Can't, doc. The ship says no."

"Well, make it say yes! I don't want to die!"

Wheeljack shrugged and he closed his optics. It wasn't that he wasn't scared. The truth was, he was leaking transmission fluid as he sat there, but he had accepted that one way or another, Primus would call him back.

He only hoped he would go out with a bang. And since the Jackhammer was full of Energon, that seemed extremely likely.

Too bad Ratchet was ruining the moment by screaming and crying in fear as he tried to unbuckle his seatbelt. Wheeljack wanted to tell him to not bother. The thing about starships, is once you got them buckled, and a crash seemed unavoidable, they had an annoying habit of locking in. Extra motavation to try to get the ship working again, perhaps?

The mountain came into view and Wheeljack looked over at Ratchet. He was silent now, and he slowly offered his servo to the mech. Wheeljack looked at it for a long moment, and then he took it.

That's when the Jackhammer hit the mountain.

OoO

Wheeljack opened his optics. He cut himself out of the chair he was in, growling in frustration at the loud and annoying whines of alarms. Where was he, anyway? He looked around, not recognizing his surroundings. He looked over, and he paused. In his passenger seat was his mate.

His carrying mate.

Why were they in this deathtrap? He cut his mate down, who was limp in his arms, and he carried him out of the ship-thing as fast as he could. He laid him down so he could rest, then he looked back at the starship. He frowned. He didn't know the plans for them had been complete. Ultra Magnus had just told them to start building something small. Apparently it was a good call, because it must have been flying good before it crashed into that pile of rock...wait...

Where on Cybertron were they?

He found a cave in the side of the mountain and he laid his mate in it so they could wait for Seaspray to come and fetch their sorry afts. He commed in, but no surprise. Seaspray was probably getting a nice wax from a medic or something and would comm back in with some good news, hopefully that didn't include oh, and by the way, Tailgate is going to get you.

He didn't know if he could take Tailgate's happy chatter for one more second.

Ratchet had begun to stir. He blinked his optics open and he looked around, then he found Wheeljack. "Wheeljack? Where are we?"

"Primus knows. All I know is that we crashed a starship."

"Another starship? Those are pretty unreliable, especially with you behind the wheel." The medic was teasing him, but something that Ratchet said made Wheeljack scowl. Another starship? He had crashed others? But he didn't remember. Maybe all those explosives finally went to his helm and made a mess of his processor.

"All well," he said. "Third time's the charm."

Rathcet scoffed. "More like sixteenth time's the charm. Ultra Magnus is going to whip your aft."

"Him or Tailgate."

"Wheeljack...Tailgate is dead." Ratchet touched his back. "Don't you remember?"

Wheeljack stared at him. Tailgate was dead!? How was that possible!? "Then Prowl..."

"Dead," he whispered.

"Ironhide?"

"Dead,"

"Metalburn?"

"Dead,"

"Solarflare, Starstreak, Flareup, Heatstroke, Zipline?"

"Dead, dead, dead, dead, and dead..." The medic stood up. "Don't you remember?"

Wheeljack fell to his knees. What was wrong with his helm!?


	2. Chapter 2

Wheeljack had come to the conclusion. His mate had lost his mind. (Unbeknownst to him, Ratchet had come to the same conclusion about him).

According to him, most of the Wreckers had died, Cybertron was dying, and the Decepticons were winning the war.

So while they played a game of What Doesn't Wheeljack Know, they were interrupted by the sound of...what was that sound? Wheeljack didn't know, and Ratchet was busy saying that it was impossible.

They poked their helms out to see a small group of bots step out of a portal...or something.

But they were calling their names. Who were those bots? Wheeljack didn't want to find out. He shoved his mate deeper into the cave and they waited until the bots seemingly gave up. He laid back and gave a sigh of relief, but Ratchet was whining.

"What's wrong, lovely?"

"They knew our names. We should have went to them."

Wheeljack touched his shoulder and he sighed as he pulled his mate against him. "What if they wanted to hurt us?"

"I don't think they wanted to kill us, Wheeljack. They could have probably told us what was happening, why we can't remember anything."

The mechs stared at each other for a long time. Wheeljack wanted to stay in the cave. He decided he liked the cave. It was cold and dark, and it was perfect. No one would find him there.

But Ratchet wanted to go after the mechs and figure out what was happening to them, why they couldn't remember anything past Ratchet's miscarriage of the sparkling. Wheeljack grieved for his son, but Ratchet had raised on optic ridge.

Primus knows who was right in most situations.

So Wheeljack stood up and followed Ratchet as they looked around the area. Forest to the right, maybe a canyon to the left, and a meadow ahead.

Wheeljack was drawn to the forest.

Ratchet was already walking to the meadow.

The Wrecker followed the medic.

Just as they dropped below view, Optimus Prime stepped out of the forest and Bulkhead climbed out of the canyon.

"Any sign?"

"None, Optimus. It's like they vanished."

The Prime sighed. "Then they aren't wounded. They are probably disoriented and scared. At least they have each other. Bulkhead, in a situation, who would follow who?"

"Ratchet would probably nag Wheeljack into following."

Arcee crossed her arms. "This is assuming that they haven't taken some helm damage."

Optimus looked at her. He hadn't thought of that. "What would happen if they took such damage, Arcee?"

"They would suffer from losses of memory."

Bulkhead nodded slightly as he thought. "Primus isn't that nice to cut their memories at the same time."

Optimus sighed and he looked back at the forest. "Let us return to base and track their life signals, and hope that they are not too far away."

Less than a mile away, Wheeljack was laughing and rolling Ratchet in the meadow grass. The Autobots walked back into the forest. They walked back to base.


	3. Chapter 3

Wheeljack held Ratchet's servo as they walked. They had been walking for hours, and Wheeljack was running low on fuel. Ratchet had offered to carry him, but the Wrecker waved the offer off.

Now he regretted it.

Ratchet took one look at him and he refused to keep moving until Wheeljack rested. The Wrecker was whining pathetically under the tree while Ratchet went about hunting down Energon deposites...that did not exist in that meadow.

"We should turn back...head to the forest..." Wheeljack tried to get up, but Ratchet somehow had the strength to run over and push him back down.

"We've gone too far to turn back now, Wheeljack. You just have to keep holding on a little bit longer until I find some Energon."

Wheeljack growled as he curled into a ball. "You won't find slag here, Sunshine, but you can try..."

Ratchet patted his hip before he ran off again.

They froze when they heard a voice fizzing out. Ratchet squealed and his servo came to rest on his audio, where the voice seemed to be coming from.

_R...at...che...t...?_

"It knows my name!?"

_Ra...tch...et...comm...in..._

Wheeljack frowned at the device on Ratchet's audio. He had forced his pedes to take his weight and now he was forcing his digits to work. He touched the device. The voice disappeared.

"You broke it," Ratchet whined.

Wheeljack shrugged and he put his digit down. The voice started up again, and this time it was understandable with only a slight surge of static.

_Ratchet! Ratchet! Is Wheeljack there, too?_

Ratchet frowned and he looked at his Wrecker mate.

He put his digit over the device and the voice shorted out. "Maybe we just have to keep something on it..." He knelt to get a rock.

_No, Wheeljack. This is a commlink. It allows us to speak to you. Do not go anywhere, Ratchet. I will send Arcee to your location and we will take you home for repairs. Just stay right th-_

The voice was gone. Wheeljack had put his digit back over the device and secured a pebble to the device with a braided length of meadow grass tied around his mate's helm.

Ratchet looked at him. "Why did you do that?"

"We don't know those people, Sunshine. They could be after us. We can figure this out on our own, I promise. Maybe those were the Decepticons that you were talking about. Do you know an Arcee?"

The medic shook his helm, sighing. "You're probably right...Megatron is a good liar..."

"We'll just keep walking until our team notices us, okay? Maybe Magnus is out there, hunting us down with Bulkhead or something."

Ratchet shuffled a pede. "The voice sounded familar to me, though..."

"Come on, love." Wheeljack kisses his cheek. "We're safe now, okay?"

The medic nodded, and he followed his mate through the meadow. Their digits knotted together as they walked, and behind them, the sun set.

OoO

Arcee clapped her leader on the back. "Way to go, Prime. You should have said Bulkhead."

"You were the first that came to mind. I thought Ratchet would recognize me, since I was his mate at one point in time, or you, since he was your mentor."  
"Well, now we know that Ratchet's memory isn't that far ahead."

Bulkhead frowned down at his pedes. "We went to the crash site and they were nowhere to be found. Where could they have gone?"

Optimus pulled up a map of the crash site. "There are some caves..."

Arcee pointed at the map. "What's this? Is this the meadow?"

Bulkhead came closer. "Yeah, yeah..."

Optimus' optics widened. "We were just _there_!"

The bots slapped their forehelms in unison, Arcee growling loudly.

"Well, we can't go hunt them down at night, can we? They'd freak out and we'd never catch them."

Optimus sighed down at the keys. "I will remain awake, in case their memory returns to them and it occurs to them to check into base. You two must rest."

Arcee and Bulkhead touched their leader's back as they left, leaving Bumblebee to nuzzle up to the Prime.

Optimus glanced down at him. "I know, Bumblebee. They will be okay. I know how much Ratchet means to you. He is your adopted carrier, correct?"

Bumblebee nodded. They had adopted him unofficially as their son when they lost their own sparkling. The scout pulled away from his uncle-figure and laid down on the med-berth.

In the meadow that Optimus Prime was attempting to monitor, Ratchet laid down in a similar positon with Wheeljack's arms wrapped around his hips.


	4. Chapter 4

Ratchet stretched out under the sun, enjoying the warmth it was giving him. But his happiness faded away when he saw how weak Wheeljack was. He didn't have enough Energon in his system for him to be healthy. He shook his shoulder a bit, whining. A thought occured to him then, and he tore off the braided meadow-grass tie so he could tap the device.

"Hello!? Hello!?"

_Ratchet? Is that you? Oh, thank the AllSpark you're okay! Prime! Prime, Ratchet's commed in_.

"You have to help us! Wheeljack isn't well! You have to help my mate!"

The other line went silent, and Ratchet didn't think it was because he said Wheeljack was hurt.

Twenty miles away in the Autobot base, the bots were staring at the computer monitor in shock.

"Ratchet thinks Wheeljack is his mate?" Arcee crossed her arms as she frowned. She had the medbag all prepped and ready to go. She was just waiting for someone to fire up the Bridge, but the mechs' mouths were open. Some drool was trickling out of Bulkhead's mouth. She grunted. Their mouths closed.

"I can't believe that," Bulkhead said with a shake of his helm. "Wheeljack and Ratchet? Together?"

Optimus stepped back from the computer and he turned to the Bridge. "No matter what they are, or were, we have to get them back to base before Wheeljack is completely out of fuel."

"How long will that be?" Arcee asked. Everyone turned to her. "Well, in case they run off again in fear! I want to know what's the error-cushion..."

Optimus closed his optics. "Two days. If they run off again, and we do not locate them again, Wheeljack will die. And I cannot simply reanimate the dead."

"Great. Good to know."

"You desired that knowledge."

"You could have said that it was need-to-know information!"

Bulkhead jumped between them. "Has anyone else noticed Ratchet has stopped talking."

The base went into an uproar as they scrambled to activate the GroundBridge in time.

OoO

Ratchet couldn't wait for them any longer. He drug his mate away and he ducked under a hill. The wind picked up and it blocked out any sound of the GroundBridge whirring to life and any angry shouts of Optimus or Arcee.

He was busy tending to his mate, so when he lifted his helm to see if the bots had arrived and saw nothing since Optimus had the team disperse and hunt them down, he felt alone and unimportant. He whined and laid down beside his mate as he threaded his digits through the Wrecker's nearly-limp ones.

Would Wheeljack make it?


	5. Chapter 5

Ratchet hugged his mate as he rocked back and forth. His spark-pulse was slowing down until Ratchet could barely feel it. He had cut open several veins to feed his mate, but Wheeljack needed medical attention, and he couldn't just find a supply of medical supplies in the middle of a meadow. There was no way that he would be moving him. Wheeljack could barely lift his helm.

So he laid, waiting for the bots to come for them. The temperature was dropping fast and he wasn't sure his systems could adapt with the sudden change.

He looked up at the stars as they poked out and he wondered which one was the Creator. Did Primus see him when he cried? He could only hope that he did, because if he ever needed his Creator, it was now.

OoO

Arcee stayed awake all night, hoping for Ratchet to comm in. Optimus had fallen asleep on his pedes, but Bulkhead and Arcee had worked together to get him to lay down. Now he was whining about something that was beyond Arcee's comprehension.

Then it happened. The satelite program that Raf had helped put up found Ratchet and Wheeljack at last.

She woke Optimus up and the two ran out through the GroundBridge.

Optimus saw Ratchet laying in the ditch and he walked calmly to him, but Arcee was too excited and she ran at them, screaming Wheeljack's and Ratchet's name.

The medic bolted, spooked by the happy femme. Somehow he had the strength to lift the heavy Wrecker and run a good six feet before he fell to his knees and scrabbled around in the dirt for purchase.

Optimus whirled around on Arcee and he snarled. His optics dimmed to the point that they didn't glow any more. He made her submit to him, something he had only done once. Then he walked slowly to Ratchet and Wheeljack.

"Stay back! Stay back, please! Don't hurt us!"

"Ratchet, shh... It is I, Optimus Prime. You have no reason to fear me. How is Wheeljack?"

The medic whined down at his mate. "Close to death..."

"Then pass him to me, my dear one..." He slowly knelt and he showed his empty servos. He avoided looking at the mech so he didn't feel threatened.

Ratchet slowly came to him, whining and looking around as if he expected an ambush. When Optimus's servo came to rest on his shoulder, he flinched and made to run, but Optimus pinned the scared mech beneath him.

"Arcee!" He tried to keep Ratchet safe from injury as he laid nearly his full weight on the poor mech. "Grab Wheeljack!"

"Wheeljack! Leave my mate alone, you-you..."

"Hush, Ratchet..." Optimus stroked his helm as he tried to soothe him. "Shh.."

Arcee drug Wheeljack through the GroundBridge. Optimus slowly followed with the struggling medic.

"Prepare the MedBay, Bumblebee!"

The scout set up the IV lines as Optimus had taught him earlier and they fed Wheeljack's skinny frame through the feeds. His optics closed and he went limp on the berth.

Were they too late? No, no, Optimus could see that the Wrecker was twitching and moving around slightly. He decided to put Ratchet in a shower stall to bathe him, and hopefully calm him, but Bulkhead joked that he couldn't tell who was supposed to be getting the bath as Optimus had taken more water and soap in the first five seconds than Ratchet had in the entire twenty-minute bath.

How would they get Ratchet's memories back? How would they get Wheeljack to remember? They couldn't exactly go to Vector Sigma for that. Optimus sighed as he dried the squirmy medic, then he let Ratchet run to Wheeljack.

Were they ever going to be the same?


	6. Chapter 6

Optimus watched his oldest friend as he stood slowly and he smiled slightly. He and the team had worked for days, trying to get Wheeljack back on his pedes and Ratchet to remember. It had taken them a total of five days to reach the point they were at now, which was where Ratchet could recall most of his memories and Wheeljack was regaining full range of motion at last. At the moment, he was stretching, reaching for his toes, then reaching above his helm, then reaching for his toes...

Arcee surveyed the entire thing. Since she had helped Bulkhead after he had lost his range of motion, and since Ratchet could recall that bit of information, she was trusted to help the Wrecker.

The saddest part of them remembering was that Wheeljack and Ratchet were drifting apart. They knew that they hadn't been in a relationship for eons. Wheeljack was stunned into silence when he learned that and Ratchet asked to be excused. Optimus didn't have the spark to make him stay.

Bulkhead stood beside the Prime as they watched Wheeljack stretch and Ratchet pace. "Think they will be the same?"

"Eventually. External wounds heal the quickest. They will be physically fine in a matter of days, but they will be mentally and emotionally well in a matter of years."

The former Wrecker sighed and he scuffed his pede slightly. "It's a shame, really, that they had to know...now Ratchet and Wheeljack can barely touch each other without flinching."

Optimus nodded and he drew his servo over his mouth as he thought. He pulled at his upper lip, something he had learned from Alpha Trion from watching the Archivest when he was deep in thought. He sighed and dropped his servo. "They will be their old selves soon," he concluded.

Bulkhead nodded, and the two mechs looked away, so they missed the slight nod past from Ratchet to Wheeljack. The Wrecker became more energetic with his stretching and Ratchet moved with a purpose.

Arcee raised an optic ridge.

OoO

Wheeljack snuck out of base, finding his usual spot to sit. The stars were peeking out as the sun set and he counted down. Just as he reached zero, he felt arms wrap around his hips and he leaned into the warmth of his medic.

The pair needed no words. They tumbled together and they smiled at each other. They kissed each other, the other's face, the other's neck...

They stayed outside until the sun rose and they had to pad into the base before Optimus could wake.

All the while, Ratchet was rubbing his chest and smiling fondly down at it. Wheeljack was beaming in pride. Arcee knew something was up, but she couldn't prove it. Not yet anyway.

And then Optimus hurried into the room, his optics wide as he looked around for someone, anyone, to grab onto.

That poor mech was Bumblebee.

"Ratchet is sparked!"

The scout whistled and chirped up at the Prime, then he hurried off to see for himself. It had been eons since the last sparkling. If Ratchet was indeed sparked, then he had to see.

Sure enough, Ratchet was curled up with Wheeljack, and the Wrecker had his servo in the medic's chamber.

"Oh, come here, Bee...want to see the baby, too?" He helped Bumblebee onto the berth and he shyly peeked down at the medic's spark.

There was a small being stuck on the medic's spark. It was white, red, green, and slightly blue. It opened its optics and gave Bee the same smile it gave Optimus. The scout reached in, slowly as he was scared that Wheeljack or Ratchet would get angry, but they encouraged him.

The sparkling was fragile, and Bee was gentle. He pulled his servo out and he chirped down at the sparkling. It chirped back.

Wheeljack rubbed his helm. "You'll be a great brother, Bee..."

The scout leaned into his adopted sire's servo and he purred loudly.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Three weeks later...**_

Wheeljack whistled for silence. The bots looked at him and they sat forward with interest as the Wrecker set a bundle down on the ground. Ratchet was whining in a worried way, but Wheeljack and Optimus were soothing him.

"We've waited long enough," they said as they purred. Then Wheeljack unwrapped the infant.

It was a pretty femme with Wheeljack's unique optics. She had Ratchet's deft servos and digits, but she had her sire's pedes. She had false door wings from her sire, and white armor like her creators, but a single green pinstripe went down her right side.

She pushed herself to her pedes and looked around at the gathered bots. She squeaked softly, falling back, but Optimus' servo was there to coax her back onto her pedes. She staggered forward a few steps, and there was Arcee's servo to keep her from falling on her face. She squealed in delight and grapped onto the femme's digits for support as she went to investigate Bumblebee and Bulkhead. She waved Arcee off and ran to them. But she was going to fast, she wasn't used to it, and she smacked into Bulkhead's leg. The former Wrecker and her honorary uncle pinned her there so he can turn her around to face Bumblebee.

The scout chirped softly for her, his arms opened, but she was more interested in the Prime, and she took off running again.

Optimus knelt as he scooped the femme up and he kissed her helm. He was asked to bless her. He had only done this to a handful of sparklings back on Cybertron, but he loved this part most of all.

_May you walk your own path with Primus' favor. May the Thirteen Primes guard your dreams and guard you from negativity. May you be a shining star for 'bots brave enough to follow._

All of it was in Cybertronian.

The sparkling yawned and stretched in his servos, her optics dimming. She was sleepy. She had done a lot in the day.

Ratchet snatched her back and like all protective carriers, he checked her for injuries, and like all sleepy sparklings, she kicked him away and made whining noises of protest.

Wheeljack smiled and he hugged his family close. "Her name is Jackie."

Ratchet sighed, but didn't protest, which meant Wheeljack had convinced his mate to name her that. Optimus smiled and Bulkhead laughed. Bumblebee made happy chirping noises as he nodded.

Meanwhile, Jackie curled into her carrier's chest, and she slept.

Optimus touched her helm one last time, and he knew that Primus had great things meant for the little one. He smiled as she began to purr. She was a special sparkling, and one the Autobots would protect with their lives, even after she would demand to be left alone.

Family stuck together, and that was certainly true for Cybertronians.

**THE END**


End file.
